Winter 2005 Rapport: AGTS News

AGTS
is pleased to announce Dr. Johan Mostert has joined the faculty
as associate professor of community psychology. Born in Cape
Town, South Africa, Mostert came to the United States to earn
a B.S. in psychology and classical languages at Bethany College,
Santa Cruz, California (1972). Upon returning to South Africa,
he earned a D.Phil. at the University of Pretoria (1992). His
thesis explored the psychodynamics of pastoral ministry. Mostert
is a registered psychologist and social worker.

In South Africa, Mostert pastored
several churches and was involved in both faith-based and government
welfare organizations. He served as a pastoral counselor for
200 abused and abandoned children at a children’s village
in Johannesburg and was an ordained minister with the Apostolic
Faith Mission of South Africa, the largest Pentecostal church
in southern Africa.

Mostert helped establish the National
Welfare Forum in South Africa, which brought together thousands
of government and non-government organizations (NGOs). The forum
played an important role throughout South Africa’s recent
transition to democracy by giving voice to the many non-white
NGOs.

“A professor doesn’t get
to come here unless he or she is the best available person in
the world,” said Dr. Joseph Castleberry, academic dean. “God
and the Church deserve nothing less. In Dr. Mostert, we found
a world-class leader whose educational credentials are exceeded
only by his excellence in ministerial practice. He is considered
a leading global authority on what may be the gravest issue facing
the human race—the international AIDS crisis. Not only
will he teach students what they need to know, Dr. Mostert will
also model what they can become—godly, well-trained agents
of healing in a sin-infested, broken world.”

AGTS Experiences “Day of Renewal”

The
AGTS community set aside September 16, 2004, as a day to seek
God. “We are hungry for him and desire to be used in ways
that conform to his will,” said President Byron D. Klaus. “As
disciples of Christ, we are accustomed to living our daily lives
dedicated to him, but in the midst of all the work, sometimes
we forget to give him space. During our Day of Renewal, we fasted
from work and classes, purposefully setting our hearts, minds
and bodies on a path to seek him during three services, which
focused solely on worship, preaching and prayer.”

Dr.
Jim Bradford, pastor of Central A/G, Springfield, Mo., was the
guest speaker. Trained as an aerospace engineer (Ph.D., University
of Minnesota), Jim’s ambition was to serve God as a dedicated
layperson. A small Bible study he led grew into a large campus
ministry and eventually Christians in Action University Church.
Jim pastored in California and Canada before coming to Central
A/G in 2003.

FasTrak: The Pre-Doctoral Experience at AGTSStudents with an M.A. now can earn academic eligibility
for the D.Min. degree in half the time. Through the FasTrak program,
students may choose to take AGTS courses for six credits, potentially
reducing their study time to two years or less. A broad range of
courses, designed to provide excellent preparation for a successful
D.Min. experience, are offered at campuses around the country.

Because of the success of the M.A.T.S.
degree completion program and the need for continual growth
in the area of institutional relations, Dorothea Lotter has
been appointed director of the M.A.T.S. degree completion
program and institutional relations.

After 32 years of vital service
to AGTS (16 years as director of admissions, records and financial
aid), Lotter will be free to develop the degree completion
program further. She also will prepare grant proposals for
the program and other seminary projects.

Mario Guerreiro

Beginning in 2005, Dr. Paul Martinez,
director of development, and Lotter will work together in
continuing to buildmeaningful relationships with alumni.Along
with his responsibilities for recruitment, marketing and
financial aid, Dr. Mario Guerreiro, director of enrollment
management, has assumed the supervision of the admissions
process.

Three eminent church historians
came together at AGTS to lead the Symposium on Apostolic Ministry
in the Pentecostal/Charismatic Tradition, September 27-29,
2004. The event was designed to shed light on the current
theological controversy over apostles and prophets by exploring
the gift of apostleship through the lens of church history,
the testimony of the New Testament and the Pentecostal missionary
enterprise.

Speakers included Dr. Vinson Synan,
dean of Regent University School of Divinity; Dr. William
Menzies, chancellor of Asia Pacific Theological Seminary;
and Dr. Gary B. McGee, professor of Church history and Pentecostal
studies at AGTS.

Synan and Menzies were the founders
of the Society of Pentecostal Studies and, along with McGee,
have been leaders in the development of Pentecostal scholarship. “AGTS
is honored to have had three scholars of this caliber address
this timely issue in our community,” said symposium
coordinator Dr. Randy Walls, AGTS director of continuing education.

AGTS Launches
Online Encounter Journal

AGTS launched its exclusively online Encounter:
Journal for Pentecostal Ministry in August 2004. Below
is an excerpt from “The Deaf and the Initial Physical
Evidence,” an
article by Dr. Cheryl Taylor, AGTS D.Min. advisor and adjunct
professor, that appears in the Summer 2004 issue.

Throughout
various parts of the United States and the world, deaf people
are reporting speaking in unknown signed tongues. Are these
experiences legitimate? Is speaking in an unknown signed
tongue equivalent to speaking in an unknown audible tongue?
Can this experience be accepted as the initial physical
evidence of the baptism in the Holy Spirit? What is the
biblical understanding of this experience? The article provides
an examination, with helpful guidance for pastors, of the
ways in which deaf persons may give initial expression to
Spirit-baptism. For this and other practical articles and
book reviews, visit www.encounterjournal.com.